For the Candidates, Not Just Any Brand Of Soapbox Will Do

Fox Facts

Plenty of folks are down on the media these days, but Fox News viewers are in a category all their own.

While 44 percent of all Republicans in a Pew Research Center survey have an unfavorable view of network news, the figure rises to 56 percent among Republicans who say Fox is their main source of news. Fifty-eight percent of Republicans view national newspapers such as the New York Times and Washington Post unfavorably, compared with 71 percent of Fox viewers.

As for news organizations generally, 71 percent of Fox viewers say they're too critical of America, and 81 percent say they cover up their mistakes.

Another notable tidbit: 55 percent of Fox viewers have a favorable view of CNN, but 79 percent of CNN viewers give thumbs up to Fox.

The numbers are less than surprising because Fox commentators -- particularly Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and John Gibson -- regularly rip the rest of the mainstream media as left wing, unfair and inaccurate.

Among people whose primary source of news is the Internet -- where bloggers often bash media coverage -- 38 percent have an unfavorable view of the cable news networks, compared with 25 percent of the general public. Pew says these wired consumers are, on average, younger and better educated.

A partisan split is particularly pronounced on Iraq. Thirty-four percent of Republicans have a great deal or fair amount of confidence that the media are providing an accurate picture of the war, while more than twice as many trust the military's accounts. Among Democrats, 56 percent have confidence in the press and 36 percent in the military.

No Pictures, Please

When Linda Greenhouse, the veteran Supreme Court watcher for the New York Times, showed up at a journalists' conference last week, she balked at the presence of a C-SPAN camera crew.

"There's a big difference between talking to people in a room and having a nationally televised event," Greenhouse recalls telling the organizer for the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. "I won't be able to speak with the same kind of candor that would make a good program if I have to watch every word." The group asked the crew to leave.

That stance prompted a scolding letter to the organization from C-SPAN Vice President Terence Murphy -- saying it should "stand up for open media access to public policy discussions"-- and the spanking of Greenhouse across the Web.

Greenhouse says she did not threaten to walk out but did complain that she felt "blindsided" by the lack of notification, having failed to receive an e-mail from the group the previous night about C-SPAN's plans.

Calling the flap "ridiculous," Greenhouse says: "I expressed my surprise and displeasure at having agreed to do one thing and being presented with something else." For the record, she has appeared on C-SPAN 51 times.

Howard Kurtz hosts CNN's weekly media program, "Reliable Sources."